The universities of Leeds, Sheffield and York have all hosted events across 2024 to showcase White Rose University Press (WRUP). This series of advocacy events aimed to further raise awareness of WRUP and its focus on ensuring academic quality, promoting open access, and driving innovation in publishing. With authors sharing their experiences of open publishing with WRUP,  and through an academic-led panel discussion on the value and challenges of open access, these events also sought to increase the awareness of, and engagement with, open access book publication. The events reinforced WRUP’s identity as the open access academic publisher for Leeds, Sheffield, and York, and reinforced its mission to support scholarly communication and barrier-free access to scholarship.

Engagement from the Academic Community

Each event was opened by an academic from the host institution, a key advocate for open access and for WRUP. Professor John Flint, Deputy Vice-President for Research at Sheffield highlighted the innovative publishing practices of WRUP and how these have helped catalyse the OA publishing sector towards a more equitable, ethical, and sustainable model. Professor Tom Stoneham, Head of the Department of Philosophy at York and outgoing Chair of the WRUP Editorial Board, emphasised WRUP’s core values and its openness to proposals from across the wider academy. Professor Nick Plant, Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Research and Innovation at Leeds and the next Chair of the WRUP Editorial Board, stressed WRUP’s commitment to knowledge equity and highlighted the societal benefits of a digital-first publisher.

These perspectives from experienced academic leaders set the scene for relevant and timely discussions on how WRUP can serve its parent institutions with support for open access publishing. 

Author Experiences

Authors who have published with WRUP also shared their experiences during the sessions, providing valuable insights into the open access publishing process. Their testimonials highlighted the benefits of choosing an open access model, including greater visibility, wider dissemination, and the increased impact of their work.

Experiences of publishing with WRUP were shared by three experienced academic authors. Dr Wendy Michallat from the School of Languages and Cultures at Sheffield, the editor and translator of 320 rue St Jacques: The Diary of Madeleine Blaess (2018), praised the bespoke editorial service WRUP offers. She emphasised the support and guidance she received, and spoke about how this helped her realise her vision for her monograph as an unabridged scholarly resource with interdisciplinary reach. The book is at the heart of a suite of openly licensed resources that can be shared and reused to support learning across disciplines and academic levels.

Professor Penny Spikins from the Department of Archaeology at York shared her experience of publishing Hidden Depths: The Origins of Human Connection with WRUP. She highlighted the benefits of publishing open access books for researchers, including greater exposure for her research and subsequent opportunities to  further engage with the wider public through other routes. Penny also noted that open access publishing addresses issues around equality of access to research by making high quality publications available to read without financial barriers.

Dr Emily Bell from the School of English at Leeds discussed her positive experience in publishing the volume Dickens after Dickens open access with WRUP.  Again, making the publication available as widely as possible was important, but Dr Bell also stressed the responsiveness and service levels a smaller press could offer. 

As well as advocating for open access publishing, both Dr Bell and Dr Michallat have shown continued support for WRUP, with both bringing a second publication to the press. Dr Bell and her associates are working on Digital Dickens, which will further showcase the digital capabilities of open access publishing, and Dr Michallat is working on additional translations of the letters of Madeleine Blaess in a volume that will complement her first WRUP publication. These researchers’ further collaboration with WRUP serves as a testament to the positive experience they had working with the Press.

Panel Discussion on Open Access Publishing

A significant portion of each event was dedicated to a panel discussion that explored the value and challenges of open access publishing. Facilitated by Michael Fake, the panel at each event was composed of academics, open access specialists, and colleagues supporting the wider scholarly communications area. The discussions explored the benefits and perceived challenges of open access book publishing. Attendees to the events were invited to submit questions in advance and could also actively participate in the session,  creating a lively interaction between the panellists and the audience.

Key Themes and Insights

The Benefits of Open Access:

• Open access helps  authors reach the widest possible audience with their work as it is freely accessible to and beyond the global academy, regardless of financial or institutional barriers. 
• This enhanced availability and visibility increases the reach and citation of an author’s work, increasing the impact of their scholarly contribution.
• The academic community benefits from this growing pool of open content, with research outputs licensed to make sharing and reuse a default position.

Challenges in Open Access:

• The perception of open access publishing as in some way significantly different to traditional publishing persists. There are concerns about how open licensing works, how to use third-party owned content, and how authors’ rights are protected. In practice, these are issues that impact on open access publishing in much the same way as in traditional publishing, but the impression of greater challenges remains.
• The complexities of funding models, availability of funding across different disciplines, and the sustainability of open access initiatives were keenly debated, as was the crucial need for strong institutional support to overcome these challenges.

The Future of Academic Publishing:

• Academic publishing and university presses were thought to have a key role in fostering innovation.
• University presses, especially those with a non-profit approach, can adapt to the changing landscape of scholarly communication, potentially leading the development of new open access models that balance the demand for quality with the need for sustainability.
• Many new university presses are library-led, positioning libraries as both creators and consumers of open content. This dual role provides greater insight into the needs and challenges faced by both authors and readers, allowing for the prioritisation of non-commercial considerations.

Diverse Perspectives and Unique Insights

All three events brought a different perspective to the open access debate. Discussions took different trajectories, offering fresh and engaging insights into the opportunities and challenges that open access publishing brings. The range of viewpoints enriched the overall conversation, contributing to a more nuanced discussion of the issues at hand. Feedback indicates that attendees learned a great deal about OA publishing and about WRUP, and that this gives a platform to further build upon.

Next steps

These advocacy events were a significant step forwards in emphasising the WRUP’s role as the university press for the Universities of Leeds, Sheffield and York. As well as offering a viable and proven route to high-quality and innovative open access publishing, WRUP provides an important aspect of the three libraries’ broader support for open access, being able to help academics from a position of practical experience. These events were the first step in a concerted drive to promote WRUP as an example of supportive open publishing that can help authors navigate the challenges, and enjoy the benefits of open access publishing. It is hoped this will foster a deeper understanding and appreciation of open access within the academic communities of Leeds, Sheffield, and York, and generate increased interest in WRUP as a publishing route. The events also generated ideas for further advocacy, both internal and external to the three parent universities, with the goal of continuing to raise WRUP’s profile and increase the numbers of internal and external submissions. 

This is a guest post authored by Lucy Cook, White Rose University Press Publishing and Communication Assistant. If you’d like more information, please get in touch with the WRUP team: universitypress@whiterose.ac.uk.